"This is the baseball."

They swept away all the streamers after the Labor Day parade

It’s a holiday weekend — the holiday being the return of college football.

Still, it’s hard to get overly excited about the games on today’s slate. Was it really necessary for Ohio State and Youngstown State to even take the field today? Why not just give the win to the Buckeyes, give the money to the Penguins and walk away happy? I’m sure Beanie Wells would agree with me right about now.

Next week is a different story, of course. We are mere days away from the Ohio U.’s stunning upset in Columbus. Of course, by writing this, I risk jinxing the mighty Bobcats and/or lessening the shock value of their impending victory. But that’s just how confident I am. Or maybe all those nights on Court Street warped my brain tissue. One of the two.

Well, there’s still plenty of baseball to be played, and, really, a series between the third-place Indians and beyond-last-place Mariners is no less exciting than that OSU-YSU matchup. So here are today’s lineups…

Victor Martinez is back out of the lineup. The Indians want to ease him into playing back-to-back days. He’s expected to play at first base or DH on Sunday, and he could be catching as soon as Monday.

Sizemore has been successful in 28 of his last 29 stolen-base attempts.

LF Matt LaPorta made his return to Double-A Akron last night, and he teamed up with 3B Wes Hodges to hit back-to-back homers in the first inning of a 3-1 victory at Erie. Hodges, the Eastern League Rookie of the Year, is hitting .287 with 17 homers and 93 RBIs this season, while LaPorta is batting a combined .281 with 22 homers and 74 RBIs.

The bullpen has a 3.38 ERA over the last 12 games.

LHP Scott Lewis turned in six scoreless innings, striking out six and allowing just two hits, in Triple-A Buffalo’s 2-0 win over Pawtucket. Lewis is 2-2 with a 2.63 ERA since his promotion to Triple-A.

The blog will be back post-Labor Day. Enjoy the holiday. Both of them.

~AC

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8 Comments

It seems a little odd that you would make a post yesterday, mocking Indians fans who still have a little hope left for this season, and than today make a post where you express your confidence that Ohio will triumph over Ohio State next week.

I was at OU at that same time. Up and down Court Street at halftime, students were voicing their frustration with the game. “How could we be tied with these guys?” they said, ignoring the fact that we were “these guys.”

No school pride whatsoever. I’ve held a little bit of a grudge against OSU football ever since.

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